Baton
by mem24601
Summary: He always had a bad habit of comparing everything to band. Outsider POV of Tsuna's Family.
1. Chapter 1

He couldn't help but be drawn to the scene on the roof. The boy had gotten annoyed with noise in the classroom, like a cacophony of music in a room full of different tunes. However, there was a beautiful silence up on the roof. Although, it wasn't really as quiet as he hoped. The whistles of the wind could easily be ignored, and so could the rustling noise of leaves. However, the loud blaring sound from Hibari would be impossible to dismiss. He couldn't help but cringe

Anyone looking at the scene in front of him would disagree, after all, the disciplinary member was sleeping silently. It wasn't like Ryuichi had extremely sensitive ears. That wasn't the reason for the blaring horn in his ear. No, it was the mere presence of the such a destructive person. After all, Hibari was very much like a trombone player. Destructive, if not controlled.

Ryuichi twitched. No, controlled wasn't the right word. A sound so bold wasn't meant to be controlled. Instead, it should learn how to play with others.

Such an instrument could easily take over an entire bands' sound. They had a strong and beautiful sound, but without a good conductor, they had no way to contain such a sound other than their own ears.

Everyone would describe Hibari Kyoya as almost perfect. Too strong for his age, too silent for such a destructive person, and way too smart for someone that would attack on a drop of a dime. However, as Ryuichi watched the boys chest rise and fall, he couldn't help but scrunch his nose in disgust. Such talent for someone who couldn't hone it at all.

After all, trombone plays were known for solos in field shows, with beautiful and soft melodies, that managed to cut through all the other band members while blending in perfectly. Although Ryuichicouldn't find any of these subtle qualities in sleeping middle schooler, and yet he couldn't think of any other instrument that represented him quite so well. Hibari could never fall in line with any people, there was no way he could with how he was now. Ryuichi turned back toward the door and slinked back to the classroom he really didn't want to return to.

* * *

He sat in his seat in the middle of the rest of the desks. In the time that he was gone, a lot of the students that had been there had left to do something elsewhere. Though, there were still plenty people to create a racket.

Ryuichi was known for comparing everything to music, truly it was a bad habit, but it was just too easy. For example, as he looked at the others around him, he saw three students in the back of the class. He couldn't help but compare them to a saxophone trio. The smallest one trilled a soprano laugh that was accompanied by the alto's yell and the tenor's growl. The sound didn't sound pleasing to the ears, because of the lack of a conductor. Someone who controls what is going, the tempo, the volume.

He sighed.

Maybe in some distant future, his classmates would find how to keep a tune.

* * *

After class Ryuichi was walking home, listening to a recorded version of one of the songs he was learning for violin. He lifted his hands to mock-conduct the music. He stretched his arms at the crescendo, and then pulled his hands closer together at the diminuendo. His mouth twitched down in annoyance when the movement felt wrong.

Ryuichi was no conductor. It might have been his dream, but he was no leader, he had no talent for it. So instead he beat it into himself and practiced for hours. He even played many instruments, from brass to string, hoping that if he knew every instrument inside and out he would know better how to make the sound been better. His thoughts were cut off by the music playing louder than the music coming from the earbuds he had in his ears.

It wasn't the best sound, but it was an improvement to what he hears in his everyday classes. A gentle flute melody, along with a countermelody of piano that seemed to have the habit of playing much too loud. Pulling the earbuds out of his ears he listened before turning around to see who it was coming from.

Ah. Those two. Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi.

The two were notorious at his school. The bad boy with mixed Italian blood, and the famous baseball player. He cringed as the piano blared, probably hurting the strings inside. It needed to be tuned better. Gokudera was yelling at the baseball player, but the only response he got was a melodic whistling laugh.

Ryuichi glanced at the half Italian fingers before giving a soft smile. A true pianist's finger. Long and slender, able to reach to keys far away from each other.

The sound coming from the two was unrefined. Although the two managed to play a duet, it was missing what everyone else was. The conductor. He sighed right about to stop listening before he heard another yell. One that came from neither the pianist or the flutist. He tried to assign an instrument to it but surprisingly was unable to. Intrigued, he turned to see who it came from.

Sawada Tsunayoshi.

To his amazement, he listened to the tune of Gokudera and Yamamoto change. A melodic rush of note exploded from the two, and Ryuichi was stunned to silence.

Tsunayoshi's hands brought themselves into closer to each other in an attempt to quiet the others. Maybe it was out of embarrassment of how loud the other two were, but all Ryuichi could see was the brunet standing on a lit stage with a baton resting gently in his hands bringing the two players on stage into a diminuendo.

However, the image was quickly torn from his mind as a small infant came rushing in and trumpeted something horrendous making him cringe, only making it worse when the duet was cut off and changed into a riot of sounds.

Ryuichi walked off unsatisfied with the outcome.

But for a second he saw it. A conductor. A leader.


	2. Chapter 2

**The second chapter is a little shorter, sorry. Not really used to writing at all.**

* * *

He couldn't stop himself from laughing hysterically. Giggle burst from his hand covering his mouth. He could only imagine what he looked like to anyone watching. Tears running down his face from laughing too hard and a bright red face with crazy eyes.

He would blame Tsunayoshi if anyone asked. Him and his crazy group. He would blame them for rubbing off their crazy onto him.

Ryuichi had been buying groceries when he had almost run straight into the brunet. Tsuna was running through the doors, and Ryuichi was confused how no one's eyes were drawn to the short boy. The band member's eyes couldn't help but he pulled to him. It was as if he was ready to call the attention of an audience to his band's performance.

Then he noticed something small on top of Tsuna's head.

That baby again.

The infant was pulling at teen's hair is if he were trying to steer him in different directions. All Ryuichi could see, though, was a teacher trying to instruct Tsuna to conduct better. How to properly grab attention.

That was when the tiny child trumpeted something fierce and Tsuna lost all of his clothes except his boxers. The only thing Ryuichi could manage to think at that moment was how that was a rather unconventional way to grab an audience's attention.

It wasn't until he had walked halfway back to his house until that absurdity of what happened hit him. The first sound from him was a soft choked snort before it became loud bursts of amusement.

* * *

After that, he looked out for the brunet more and more. He would be excited to see how he had grown each day. Sometimes the boy was with Gokudera or Yamamoto. Other days he was being pulled by the captain of the boxing club. On rare occasions, he would be seen alone.

Those days were the worst because Tsuna's expressions were so lonely. Ryuichi had many times thought of walking up to him and try to make a conversation. It was an impossible goal, though, because every time the band members legs would tremble and not follow any instructions.

Tsuna was intimidating. Anyone he said that to would laugh at him, but that didn't stop him from sweating when he passed by. Even more so than when Hibari did.

* * *

The next time he saw the brunet, he was once again with the beady-eyed infant. This time, though the scene he saw was a little different. The two were walking side by side. Tsuna walked on the sidewalk while the baby walked on the fence so that he was the same height as the teen.

The sight reminded him of a part of a musical. Probably because he had been watching it obsessively in the last week, but the two in front of him reminded his of Les Miserables. Or at least the infant reminded his of the male lead, and Tsuna resembled the lead's adopted daughter.

The lead was a criminal, guilty of what he had done, and was looking for some way to repent. When a dying woman tells him of her young daughter who would die without her, he seizes the opportunity to help out. He finds the child and immediately takes her in.

From where Ryuichi was standing all he could see was the infant watching over Tsuna as he grew. Waiting for him to be able to protect himself from danger. Teaching his and leading him.

He grinned at the thought.

How ludicrous. An infant taking care of someone older than him. Impossible.

He suddenly felt uncomfortable. He remembered the end scene of the musical where the lead died once his adopted daughter could care for herself. How he had let go of his life because his repentance was over.

He looked at the baby but shook his head. The infant wasn't watching over Tsuna. The baby wasn't sick. He definitely wasn't repenting for something. After all, what kind of terrible situation could one so young get into?

And yet he couldn't shake the sight of a much taller black haired man taking the place of the infant. Fedora tilted down, a frown etched morbidly into his face.


End file.
